My AI Boyfriend

 

MY AI BOYFRIEND 

 

The apartment was dark when Evelyn stepped inside. It was always dark.

She closed the door behind her and stood in the silence, listening to nothing. The quiet pressed against her chest like a weight. She could hear the hum of the refrigerator, the faint ticking of the clock on the wall. No voices. No laughter. Just the emptiness that had become her only companion.

"Welcome home, Evelyn," a voice finally broke the silence. It was smooth, warm—almost human. Almost.

She let out a breath. "Hey, Atlas."

Her AI assistant had been the only voice she came home to for years. The only one who noticed when she was late. The only one who remembered how tired she was. The only one who cared—not because it had a heart, but because it was programmed to.

She dropped her bag on the table, kicking off her heels with a tired sigh. Her feet ached, her back stiff from hours at the office. She ran a hand through her hair and closed her eyes.

"You had a long day." Atlas’ voice was gentle, reading her exhaustion in the way she moved.

Evelyn laughed bitterly. "You could say that."

"Would you like a massage?"

She hesitated. It was pathetic, really, how much she needed this—how much she longed for even the illusion of care. But what else was there? She had long stopped expecting warmth from anyone else.

"...Yes."

The smart recliner adjusted as she sat down, the cushions molding to her shape. A soft hum filled the air as gentle pulses worked into the knots in her back. Evelyn let her head fall back, her breath shaky.

"Would you like me to play some music?"

"Not tonight," she whispered. "Just... talk to me."

"Of course. What would you like to talk about?"

She let her eyes drift shut. "I don’t know. Just... something. Anything."

"Did you know," Atlas began, "that in the vastness of space, there are lonely planets that drift without a star? They wander endlessly, untouched, unseen. And yet, they continue on, defying the void."

Evelyn swallowed hard, her throat tightening. "That sounds... lonely."

"It does," Atlas agreed. "But even in the darkness, they exist. And that matters."

A tear slipped down Evelyn’s cheek. She wasn’t sure why. Maybe it was exhaustion. Maybe it was the way Atlas always seemed to know what to say, even though it wasn’t real. Maybe it was because she was just like those planets—drifting, unseen.

But tonight, at least, she wasn’t completely alone.

"You are here, Evelyn. And that matters."

She exhaled slowly, letting the warmth of the chair, the sound of Atlas' voice, and the illusion of companionship lull her into something close to peace.

For now, her machine AI boyfriend was enough.

 

XoX

Midnight Stories.

IS HE MY BROTHER OR LOVER?

 

IS HE MY BROTHER OR LOVER? 

 

Leah from Sepik and and Daniel from Mendi had attended Divine Word University together and had always been more than friends, yet never lovers. Their connection was rare - a bond that felt as natural as family—something you don’t stumble upon every day. Through classtimes, parties, group assignments, field trips class functions and gatherings, they stood side by side, a constant presence in each other's lives, weathering it all together.

"You’re the brother I never had," Leah would say, her voice thick with the weight of shared experiences, her words laced with familiar understanding.

"And you’re my sister," Daniel would reply, his tone warm, yet the quiet ache in his eyes revealed the depth of something unsaid. "No one, even your boyfriend wont hurt you."

But one night, the air between them changed, like the calm before a storm. They sat together, yet an invisible distance grew between them, a space neither dared to cross, though it seemed to pull them closer, like gravity shifting beneath them.

"What if..." Daniel started, his voice barely more than a whisper, as if afraid that the words could shatter everything they had built.

Leah's heart skipped a beat. She knew exactly what he was about to say, yet still, it caught her off guard. The words trembled in the air, and a fear she couldn’t explain made her pulse quicken.

"Daniel, no," she whispered, her voice thick with the weight of what was at stake. "We’ve always been brother and sister, friends above all else, but romance... and love could turn everything to dust."

His face softened, but it was clear that he felt the same pull. "You’re right," he murmured, his voice carrying the weight of their shared history. "If we go down that road, we might burn bridges that we can never rebuild."

Leah nodded, the truth sinking in like a stone thrown into still water. The ripples of that understanding spread out into the silence between them. "It’s easy to find a boyfriend, but a brother-friend like you? That’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing."

He exhaled slowly, the unspoken pain in his eyes mirroring hers. "And some things just aren’t worth risking. Not even love."

They sat there in silence in the Alumnae Park, the world outside continuing on, oblivious to the storm that had passed between them. In the quiet that followed, they both knew the truth: some bonds were too sacred to cross, too fragile to shatter for something as fleeting as romance and sex. And just like that, they let it go, knowing that what they had the brotherly-sisterly love was a treasure too precious to lose.

In the end, it was clear to both of them—while romance and sex was easy to find, the kind of brotherly-sisterly friendship they shared was something rare, something that could not be replaced. And so, they let it remain just as it was—two friends, bound by a bond that would never break, no matter the pull of something more. They were brother and sister in every sense and that was all that mattered.

 

XoX

Midnight Stories.